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Interesting LTTE about voter registration in Scioto County

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theHandpuppet Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jul-23-06 07:15 AM
Original message
Interesting LTTE about voter registration in Scioto County
The author of this LTTE is right -- there ARE folks who won't register to vote solely to avoid jury duty. So many people in Scioto County are just scraping by they can't afford to take off work on jury duty pay. This is a real problem in getting folks to register.

http://www.portsmouth-dailytimes.com/articles/2006/07/23/news/letters_to_the_editor/1letter_juryduty.txt

Jury duty requirements may affect voting registrations

Saturday, July 22, 2006 11:28 PM EDT

It is time to remove the burden of being selected for jury duty because you are a registered voter. Ohio law allows for jurors to be picked from registered motor vehicle operator's lists.

The vast majorities of people who live in Scioto County, if picked for jury duty, forfeit their regular wages and receive jury duty pay. That will hardly cover their transportation cost. It is not surprising that they choose not to register to vote, solely to avoid jury duty. They are disenfranchised voters, much the same as those excluded by poll taxes.

It is time that we are afforded the same system as our northern Ohio neighbors who use the driver's license as an option.

Call your representative, Board of Elections and Common Pleas court judges. They all are listed in the front of the phone book: Government Offices. It is time for change and elimination of one or more kink in the voting process.

Frank Halstead

West Portsmouth
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cmd Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jul-23-06 10:59 AM
Response to Original message
1. How many counties rely solely on voter registration?
I have jury duty next week. My handbook states "Your name was chosen from a list of Tuscarawas count residents who are registerd voters and/or who hold an Ohio drivers' license."
I wrongly assumed that this was a statewide policy.
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theHandpuppet Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jul-23-06 12:45 PM
Response to Reply #1
2. A good question, cmd
This is some of the info I found, but I don't know the country-by-county rules. Apparently this particular voter registration problem predominates in Southern Ohio.

http://www.ohiobar.org/pub/?articleid=267 (The Ohio State Bar Association)

How are jurors selected?
In Ohio, persons are called at random for jury service from the list of registered voters in a court's geographical area. In some counties and in federal courts, the list of registered automobile drivers also may be used. Jury trials are held in the United States district courts, the common pleas court of each county, the municipal courts, county courts, and in some cases, juvenile courts.


Many counties do not specify on their websites just how potential jury lists are compiled. But here are two examples of major Ohio counties which form their jury pools from lists of registered voters:

http://www.law.uc.edu/clj/projects.html (Hamilton County, Cincinnati)

http://216.29.61.4/CourtWeb.nsf/0/2cb3d46dc8bd9f4185256f880074dd32?OpenDocument (Franklin County, Columbus)
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cmd Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jul-23-06 01:00 PM
Response to Reply #2
3. A little late for action this year, however
I think we need to address the issue in counties that take jurors from both sources. Voters in those counties need to know that they can be called because they have a driver's license.
No voting because they might be called for jury duty doesn't give them immunity. I can understand the economic issue. Pay in our county is twelve dollars for reporting for service and fifteen if you are seated.
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